So, who is it?

I am having a severe dilemma. I have 2 authors I really really like. One is the obvious Terry Pratchett, and the other is George R. R. Martin. They are both geniuses at combining humor and drama, but they have one major difference: George R. R. Martin writes tragedies while Terry Pratchett writes comedies.
My dilemma is that they're both absolutely amazing authors, and I don't know which one to support.
So I'm simply going to advertise this genius on these forums and plug Terry on a different forum I go to.
He's written a lot of great things, in many different genres (even though he claims it's all one). He's written a story collection/autobiography called Dreamsongs that comes in 2 volumes, and a fantasy series called A Song of Ice and Fire that starts with A Game of Thrones. He also has a few excellent stand alone novels, The Armageddon Rag (a fantasy/horror/60s/many many other types of book) and Fevre Dream (American civil war/horror/vampire novel). He's also written Tuf Voyaging, but I've never read it, so I can't say anything.
Give this author a try, and tell me what you thought.
Also, he's American, and I'm an anti-Brittish bigot, so that's already about 1500 points to his favor.

There will always be a light at the end of the tunnel. It will usually be a flamethrower.

I have read one short story by him - 'Sandkings' which was (if I remember correctly) made into an episode of the Twilight Zone. I was really impressed with his writing then and always meant to check out more of his books, but never got around to it.

I've heard very good things about his writing though.

Two questions - why can't you support both? And second, why an "anti-British bigot"?

“Men never commit evil so fully and joyfully as when they do it for religious convictions.” – Blaise Pascal

George Martin's Song of Ice and Fire are masterful fantasy works. I enjoy his work because of the political intrigues and highly unexpected (but realistic) plot twists. Martin uses chapters that are written from many different characters' point of view - a character that comes over as undeniably evil in one chapter will turn out to have many good qualities in later chapters. They feel well-rounded, thought out. There are only shades of grey in his world.

I enjoy Pratchett on different levels: the humour and his views on what I'll call the human condition. I started reading his books in my teens and I don't doubt Terry's views on the world have shaped my own in no small way. I won't write much more on him here, you all know his good points

Having said that, I'll choose Pratchett. By a small margin though - I so look forward to the next installment in Martin's series.

George R.R. Martin is an American author that has created, what is for me, one of the best worlds of genre fiction since that of Tolkien, surpassing him in many ways.

His epic series a Song of Ice and Fire is modeled loosely along that of historical events from the War of Roses in England. You have a group of families all vying for power and feudal authority over one another and the high throne. What really sets this particular work above others is the way the story is told.

Each chapter is told from a POV (Point of View) perspective. So you may have the first chapter told from the point of view of one of the Kings, another from his bastard son, another from an enemy and the story unfolds in this way. While there are some fantastical elements to this series, it is not the focus of the series. There is plenty but it does not hit you in the face.

The series is built around the characters and their interactions. While there are some dragons, a few "other" ice like beings, there is quite a bit of reality from the time period that is addressed. Themes like regicide, fratricide, rape, incest, murder, deception, all events that occurred during that time period.

Another issue that I particularly enjoy in this series is that character that may seem to be protagonists are not protected from the events of the story line. There is no guarantee that the main character of a book will survive. George is not above killing off what you would assume to be a major character in chapter 4 or 5.

The listings of families, their heraldic symbols, the back stories and detailed chronicles of their ancestry all help establish this series in the real world.

His website, is worth checking out. A lot of information about that time period can be gleaned from this series, heraldry, military warfare history, etc.